Picnic at Hanging Rock’s vision of girlhood
Peter Weir’s 1975 film, like Joan Lindsey’s original novel, understands that being a teenage girl is an experience full of…
ByFilm reviews
Explore the world of cinema with our selection of film reviews, providing in-depth analysis, thoughtful critiques, and captivating insights into the latest releases and timeless classics.
Wes Anderson’s sense of an ending
Unlike his mannered recent films, The Phoenician Scheme has both style and story.
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Mission: Impossible 8 – the return of the sexless show-off
The Final Reckoning exists only to serve the ego of cinema’s supposedly great daredevil, Tom Cruise.
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The complicity of Leni Riefenstahl
The late film-maker insisted she was only an observer of the Nazi regime. A new documentary suggests otherwise.
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Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope is an exercise in the male gaze
The Italian director’s latest film is all beauty and no sense.
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The cinema of abortion
On-screen portraits of abortionists are rare. April, which follows a doctor in rural Georgia, is starkly honest – and beautiful.
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The Return examines Odysseus’s last act
Ralph Fiennes plays the hero as a warrior shamed by his deeds and suffering from PTSD.
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Sebastian is a refreshingly authentic exploration of sex work
This film by Mikko Mäkelä makes the likes of Good Luck to You, Leo Grande and Anora seem artificial.
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Joshua Oppenheimer’s surreal apocalyptic musical The End
This strange film, starring Tilda Swinton, satirises our collective delusion in the face of the climate crisis.
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Snow White in the age of inoffence
Disney’s live-action remake of its 1937 animation updates the material for modern audiences – and falls flat.
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The exploration of Sly Stone’s genius
Sly Lives! presents an unflinching portrait of the artist – and the main quandary of the creative process.
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In Mickey 17, Bong Joon-ho misses the moment
In this futuristic film starring Robert Pattinson, the director revisits his favourite themes. But a Donald Trump parody falls flat.
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The Last Showgirl is beautiful, tasteful – and tedious
Gia Coppola’s film, about an out-of-work Las Vegas dancer played by Pamela Anderson, looks gorgeous but is let down by…
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How Emilia Pérez sabotaged its own Oscars campaign
The chaotic, crude film was nominated for 13 Academy Awards – then the media storm came.
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I’m Still Here: a powerful story of the human spirit under dictatorship
This Oscar-nominated film tells the true story of Brazil’s missing dissident former congressman.
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A new Led Zeppelin film complicates my feelings about Seventies rock
I saw the documentary in a spirit of curiosity rather than fandom – and was won over by the thrill…
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Bridget Jones after Mr Darcy
This fourth instalment in the series – which follows Bridget after the death of her husband – is the most…
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Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig is an act of resistance
The director risks imprisonment with this film, which reveals the brutality of tyranny in Iran following the 2022 Women, Life,…
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The Fire Inside subverts the inspirational sports drama movie
This biopic of the 17-year-old Olympic gold medal-winning boxer Claressa Shields explores not just the victory, but the aftermath.
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The monumental achievement of The Brutalist
Brady Corbet’s uncompromisingly long, high-concept epic about a Hungarian architect might seem pretentious – but it demands to be seen.
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